‘Spasticity’ In Felines

It Is Possible For Cats To Suffer From Spasticity

Spasticity is a muscular dystomy, a form of mitochondrial myopathy. To this day, there still remains little research and writing about this form of muscle weakness. Kittens that develop this disease usually begin to show signs around six to 20 weeks of age, and sadly the outcome is fatal. It is a so-called genetic disease.

How To Detect Precursors? 

The kitten hardly holds his head and seems to swing while walking.

Stiffness in his front paws give him a jerky gait.

His head returns more and more into his shoulders. This downward flexion of the head and neck can be noticed when the kitten uses the litter tray normally.

He is struggling to feed himself and in advanced cases is in shock after each meal.


The cat is generally likely to have a low quality of life and could die at almost any point.

The risk of death is so high due to the likelihood of cats choking on food due to the muscle disorder.

In The Final Phase

In the final phase, he has difficulty breathing. The only way to shorten his suffering is euthanasia as unfortunately there is no known treatment to date. Luckily, these days breeders are able to spot the effects of ‘spasticity’ early on in their litter and thus do not proceed to sell the diagnosed kittens.

deformed limbs


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